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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Is your little girl obsessed with princesses? My 3 year old isn't so much obsessed with THE princesses (Ariel, Cinderella, etc.), she just loves the idea of being a princess, any princess. She LOVES dress up - what 3 year old doesn't? She prances around the house dressed up in yards of fabric that she insists are "wedding dresses" or "princess gowns". By the way, that was not a typo. She goes through my fabric and finds the shiniest, most sparkly, pinkest thing she can find and wraps herself in it toga-style.

I saw this on Pinterest and immediately thought of my little princess.

Step 2 - Making the Pattern

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the steps for this part - just the final result. Let me know if these are confusing directions to follow!

Cut your bag open and lay it flat.

Draw a dot in the middle, at the bottom, of the long side of the bag.

Use your ruler and measure 11" to the right of the middle dot. Mark it. Repeat for the left side.

Continue using the ruler and mark 11" away from the center dot all the way from the left to the right. You should end up with a semi-circle. Cut it out.

The flat side of the paper will be used to make the point of the hat. The rounded side will be the bottom.

Wrap the semi-circle into a cone shape (you will have to overlap the ends a bit). Adjust the bottom to fit on your child's head.

Cut off the excess paper on either side of the middle seam.

You should end up with a pattern piece that looks something like this:

Ignore the writing on the paper - that was me thinking it out.

Step 3 - Cutting the Material

Using your pattern piece, cut 1 from each of the fabric, felt, and fusible fleece.

Cut two, 3" x 7" strips from the material.

Step 4 - Fusible Fleece

Set your iron to its cotton setting (or Hi with steam). Fuse the fleece to the WRONG side of your fabric. Iron for a good minute or so.

Step 5 - Embellishments

If you are going to add any lace, flowers, sequins, etc. to the outside of your hat, now is the time to do so. Sewing through both the fabric and the fleece will anchor your flowers and other embellishments without it showing on the inside of the hat. Make sure if you are adding a lace trim that you leave space for the seam allowance. In other words, don't place it at the very bottom, against the raw edge. Place it about 1" away.

For this hat, I made little butterflies out of the white sparkle felt I used as the lining. They are sewn on just in the middle to make them 3-D.

I also sewed butterflies on to the ends of the ribbon that I wanted coming out of the top of the hat.

Step 6 - Sewing the Hat

Fold the felt piece in half and match the side edges with RIGHT sides of the material together. The top should come to a point. Sew a 1/4" seam all the way up the side.

Lay your tulle veil and ribbons (if any) in the top corner on the RIGHT side of the fabric piece.

Fold in half with the veil and ribbons sandwiched in the middle. Right sides are together.

Pin.

Sew up the side. Turn right side out.

Step 7 - The Straps

Fold your strap pieces in half with right sides together. Sew one short end and down the long side of the strap.

Turn the straps right side out. Press

Top stitch around the straps.

Take a piece of Velcro and place at the end of one strap. Sew in place. Repeat for other strap.

Step 8 - Sewing the Lining and Hat Together

With right sides together, put the fabric, veil, and ribbons inside the felt lining. Pin the bottom, raw edges together, leaving at least 4" open to turn the hat around. You can use this space to pull the veil and ribbons through so that they don't get caught in the seam.

Pin one strap on each side of the hat. The ends should be sandwiched between the fabric/fusible fleece and the felt. The raw edges are lined up. Make sure that the Velcro is facing in the SAME direction (both to the right or left) so that it fastens correctly once the hat is turned.